Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) is one of the great herbal traditions of the world, with a recorded history of more than two thousand years. It has retained a strong presence in health provision in China today, where it is practiced alongside western medicine in state hospitals throughout the country, in the treatment of a wide range of conditions.

Treatment with CHM involves the use of combinations of herbs which are tailored to address the particular disharmony of the individual patient; the Chinese materia medica contains several hundred commonly used ingredients, including roots, stems, flowers, leaves and barks, together with some non-plant materials. This allows the practitioner to create prescriptions which match individual patients' patterms of disharmony, and which can be adapted to meet each patient's changing needs as treatment progresses.

The possible uses of CHM are wide and varied, and people of all ages and constitutions can benefit from it. Treatment may also include lifestyle and dietary advice, which is based upon the energetic and medicinal qualities of foods.